


A Call to Arms is a Calling Card

by caimani



Series: 31 Days of Halloween [19]
Category: Ever After High
Genre: Bodyguard, F/F, Minor Violence, Organized Crime
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-21
Updated: 2018-10-21
Packaged: 2019-08-05 17:42:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16372151
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/caimani/pseuds/caimani
Summary: When Apple turned eight, her mother introduced her to Darling, her new personal bodyguard. At first, Apple wasn't sure what to think of Darling. Several years later, Apple wanted Darling to quit scaring all the boys away. But now? Apple can’t imagine life without Darling by her side.





	A Call to Arms is a Calling Card

**Author's Note:**

> Day 21: Unfinished Business
> 
> idk if this actually fits the prompt. whatever. I wanted to write this

Red lipstick. Perfect.

Apple walks out of her room to find Darling waiting. She smiles at her bodyguard.

“Ready to go?” she asks.

Darling frowns. “I am,” she says. “But you’re not.”

Apple crosses her arms. She knows exactly what Darling is referring to. But she’s in a playful mood. “Whatever could you be--”

“Where’s your gun?” Darling says, reaching for Apple’s purse. Apple lets her take it and open it to reveal makeup, a wallet, her phone, two pairs of sunglasses, and no gun. No weapon at all, really, unless one counted anything that could be thrown as a weapon.

“I don’t need one,” Apple says, taking her purse back. She walks around Darling, and starts for the stairs.

“You know who you’re meeting with, right?” Darling says, catching up to Apple almost immediately.

“I do.”

“And you know she’d love to kill you.”

“She’s already tried to kill me,” Apple says, thinking of the last unpleasant encounter during which she very nearly lost both her life and two of her treasured allies’ lives. But that’s exactly why Apple needs to face her again. That woman can’t get away with doing that.

“And… you think it’s a good idea to walk back into her territory without a weapon?” Darling says incredulously.

Apple stops mid step and turns to take Darling’s face between her hands. Darling freezes, caught between her trained instincts to defend herself and the mission that she’s held since she was a child: to always protect and never harm Apple. She doesn’t raise a hand to touch Apple in response.

Apple loves and trusts Darling more than anyone or anything in the world. 

“I’ve got you,” Apple says, fluttering her eyelashes and watching Darling’s lips shake slightly: the only thing that betrays what she’s thinking. 

She lets go of Darling and continues down the stairs. Darling doesn’t miss a beat and follows at her side.

Apple and Darling walk straight through the people in the downstairs hall, and she goes to exit the house through the front door. Someone reaches out to stop her, and in a flash, Darling moves to grab the person’s arm before he even gets close to Apple.

“Miss White,” the guy--Marblebraid, Apple recognizes him as one of the guys constantly trying to impress her mother’s inner circle. “It’s not safe to be going out alone, especially not now--”

Apple lifts her head to stare Marblebraid straight in the eyes. “I am aware. Now excuse me.”

Darling pushes him out of Apple’s way and someone with a bit more sense (and understanding of what Darling is capable of) opens the door for Apple.

Apple walks across the short distance to the car that’s already waiting for her. She would really much rather go on her motorcycle, but if she even thought about it, Darling would do everything she could to stop her. Or at least drag her in the direction of the garage full of armored cars. 

Darling and Apple get inside, and the driver starts off down the driveway. They pass through the exit of the compound with barely a pause, and start heading into the city. Apple leans against the window to watch the buildings pass by.

“Here,” Darling says. 

Apple turns. Darling is holding out her Desert Eagle. Apple blinks at it.

“What?”

“Take it.”

Apple crosses her arms stubbornly. “No. I don’t need it.”

“You… don’t need it? Against Courtly? She’s unpredictable, you know!”

Apple knows. Courtly, like her father, is an absolute wild card with far too much power in the South Wonderland district. Their family have held that part of the city for a long time--long enough for Courtly to get cocky. She’s been branching out to other areas of the Wonderland district lately, spreading her reckless violence everywhere she goes. East Wonderland especially doesn’t need Courtly’s bullshit. A week ago, Alistair and Bunny, both allied with the Snow family, asked for some help chasing out Courtly’s men from a neighborhood under their protection. Halfway through the blood-free negotiation, Courtly showed up and opened fire on all of them. Even after hearing exactly who they all were, from her own men, no less.

And now, for some reason that was probably a trap, Courtly was meeting with Apple at a “neutral” location in East Wonderland. Apple had accepted the offer, of course. She could handle Courtly.

Apple pushes the gun back towards Darling. “You hang onto this. But don’t shoot at Courtly until I talk to her.”

Darling doesn’t look happy. “Bunny said Courtly’s been talking all about how much she wants to erase you from this city,” she says, hands clenching on her lap. “In… words a bit more aggressive than that.”

“She likes hearing herself talk,” Apple says. 

“You’re going straight into her territory--”

“Technically it’s not actually hers--”

“And I can only protect you so much,” Darling says.

Apple smiles confidently. “You’re the best of the best, Darling. Courtly and a hundred of her men would be no match for you.”

Darling is flustered by that. “I--I’m. I think you might be--”

“I’m not underestimating Courtly,” Apple says. “She’s overestimating us.”

On the rest of the drive to the meeting place, Darling attempts to convince Apple to take several other weapons, including three different guns, five knives, and a miniature flamethrower that Apple has never seen before. Darling won’t tell her where she got it, and when Apple politely refuses it, it disappears back into Darling’s suit jacket. Darling’s a fucking arsenal, Apple swears, and the bodyguard is just as deadly with her hands.

They emerge from the car at a nice little cafe. It’s small, but it’s well lit by sunlight coming through the front wall of large glass panes. The space inside is open and empty of any customers or employees. The cafe and its owner are protected by the Hearts, which neither Courtly nor Apple has the resources to cross. 

Whatever happens inside, it’s not going to be a shootout, not if either of them want to keep their heads. But once the meeting is over and they’re leaving… that’s the tricky time.

As Apple and Darling step out of their car, Apple notices Courtly leaning against a tree across the road. There are two men with her. Apple feels Darling go tense at her side.

“Apple White,” Courtly calls, waving while walking confidently across the road. “And I see you’ve brought your cute bodyguard.”

“Hello Courtly.” Apple says. 

Courtly stops a few feet from Apple. This is the closest they’ve ever been to each other. For a moment, all Apple can think of is how Alistair is still in the hospital because of this woman. But. She doesn’t let that show. She’s relaxed, sure of herself and the beautiful deadly woman at her side.

“Shall we sit down?” Apple says, gesturing towards the door of the cafe.

“Of course,” Courtly says. She grabs the door. “After you.”

In a flash, Darling’s gun is out and pointed at Courtly’s head. “Try anything while her back is turned and you’re dead.”

“Oh,” Courtly says, sounding amused. “But dearie, you’ll be dead too.” Her two men have their guns trained on Darling.

Apple sighs. She was expecting tension, but already, things had escalated so quickly. She does understand Darling’s concern, however. “How about this?” she says. “You all put your guns away. My bodyguard and I go in first, and then you come after. Nobody shoots anybody, unless you want the Hearts on all of us.”

Courtly scowls, but she motions for her men to put their guns away. Darling reluctantly does so too. Apple goes through the door, with Darling at her back watching Courtly the entire time. Finally, they’re all in the cafe, sitting rather tensely at opposite ends of a table. 

“So.” Courtly says. “That whole… affair last week. Believe me when I say that I had no intention of hurting you. Didn’t even know you’d be around Wonderland. I was defending my people, you know.”

What a liar. Apple smiles and folds her hands on the table. “Well, you hurt an ally of mine and I’m rather upset about that.”

Courtly shrugged. “They’ve been attacking my people. I can’t just let my people get pushed around by a couple of pretty little punks. Next thing you know, I’d be run out of East Wonderland.”

Apple holds her tongue at that. Now isn’t the time to bring up her issues with how Courtly’s been treating East Wonderland as her personal playground. 

“Alistair isn’t just a punk,” Apple says instead. 

Courtly leans forward with a smirk. “He’s got no power or name behind him, my dear. Basically a couple of vigilantes, him and his soft little girlfriend.” 

But he’s also got supernatural abilities. Apple’s seen them herself. There’s enough rumors about Alistair and Bunny being more than human from people in Wonderland--and the whole city--that Courtly must suspect some of them to be true. Enough to see him and Bunny as threats.

Apple finds herself holding back a comment about that. Most likely, Courtly is trying to bait her for information about her friends. Not going to happen.

So she just narrows her eyes at Courtly. “He’s a friend of mine, Courtly. A friend of the entire Snow family.”

Courtly waves her hand dismissively. “Tell him not to cross me and I’ll tell my people to leave him alone if they see him running around. I have business in East Wonderland and he’s been getting in my way.” She makes a face. “What were you trying last week anyway, messing around with them? Is the Snow family declaring war on me?”

“No,” Apple says. Ugh. She has to say that. It’s the only reason her mother allowed her to do this. 

Courtly smiles and spreads her arms out. “Then why so tense!? I made a mistake, you were in the wrong place at the wrong time, we can move past this! I am sorry about your friend, I definitely overreacted there.”

Wow, sudden change of heart there. Apple doesn’t believe Courtly for even a second. But unfortunately, her mother insisted that she try not to start a war between the Snow family and Courtly. She’s trying.

“I would like to move past this too,” Apple says. “As a… show of my sincerity, I brought you something.”

Moving as quickly as she can, she pulls a tube of lipstick out of her purse and throws it at Courtly. Courtly, foolishly, grabs it in her hand. A split second later, her two men have their guns drawn, but Darling is faster. Two throwing knives are already sailing across the table, slashing through their hands and forcing them to drop their guns.

Darling is now standing behind Apple, her gun drawn.

Courtly is blinking in surprise, and then her shock morphs into anger. “What the absolute hell--”

“That lipstick you’re holding is poisoned,” Apple says, standing up and smiling sweetly at Courtly’s horrified face. “A rather nasty paralytic, absorbed through the skin. It’s already working, don’t you see? You can’t let go of it.” Courtly seems to notice at once, her limbs stiff and unmoving.

“Get this out of my hand!” Courtly shrieks. One of her men moves forward to help her, but the other hangs back, looking unsure.

“Careful,” Apple says. “It’ll get you too.” 

The first guy looks at Courtly in a panic, and then shakily reaches to try and pry the lipstick out of her clenched hand. His right hand is still bleeding heavily from Darling’s knife, so his movements are rather uncoordinated.

“You bitch,” Courtly hisses. “You fucking liar!”

“Don’t pretend you’re innocent,” Apple says coldly. “I have no intention of playing nice with you, not now and certainly not in the future. Breathe in Alistair or Bunny’s direction again and I’ll destroy you. That is a promise.”

Courtly cackles as her bodyguard continues to struggle to get the lipstick out of her hand. “I’ll fucking kill you, Apple White! You hear me?? You’re fucking dead!!” 

“The only reason you’re still alive right now,” Darling says suddenly, moving to stand between Courtly and Apple, “Is because Apple told me not to shoot you the moment I saw your face.”

Courtly smirks. “Hold your guard dog’s leash a bit tighter, Apple. We don’t wanna make the little Lizzie baby angry we got blood on a Hearts territory cafe.”

Apple shakes her head. “Come on, Darling, we’re leaving. This meeting’s over.”

“We’re not over, Apple White!” Courtly screams as Apple and Darling walk out of the cafe. 

They walk down the sidewalk to where the car is parked. Darling is watching their backs the entire time, but they make it inside the car safely. 

Darling glares at Apple as soon as they’re sitting down. “You did have a weapon,” she says.

Apple shrugs. “I wasn’t sure if I was going to use it or not.”

“They could have shot you when you threw it.”

“I played a bit of a gamble there,” Apple admits. “But those guards of hers weren’t the type to break the rules in that cafe. They’re more afraid of the Hearts than they are of Courtly.”

Darling grits her teeth, looking truly frustrated. “Courtly could have--so many things could have gone wrong!”

Apple sighs and places a hand on Darling’s thigh. “Yes. But I trusted you would have my back and you did. You trusted that I knew what I was doing. And I did.”

“You declared war on Courtly,” Darling says.

“I did,” Apple says. “But I discussed that possibility with my mother when I accepted Courtly’s offer. She doesn’t like it, but… at this point, Courtly is too dangerous. She needs to be removed from the city, one way or another. With the current politics in the city, it was only a matter of time before one of the families declared war on her.”

Darling shakes her head. “I don’t get all of that stuff. I just… I was worried about you in there.”

“I’m sorry,” Apple says. She leans closer to Darling and pulls her bodyguard closer to her. Darling goes limp and allows Apple to hold her close. Apple breathes calmly, and feels as Darling matches her breathing. This calms her, she knows.

“We’ll be fine,” Apple says gently, stroking her hand along Darling’s back. “We’re strong, you and I.”


End file.
